Weekly Poll: Have You Ever Purchased a Refurbished Mac?

Everyone loves getting a new Mac, but not everyone loves dishing out the requisite dough. Whether you’re looking at a $599 Mac Mini or a $2,499 Mac Pro, the expense can be burdensome. With new Macs, shopping around doesn’t typically help too much as prices tend to be fairly uniform.

However, if you’re willing to venture into the land of refurbished Macs, price tags can become much more friendly. For instance, on the Apple.com Refurbished Mac page you can typically find savings of up to almost 30%.

Today we want to hear your thoughts on refurbished Macs. Cast your vote in the poll to let us know if you’ve ever purchased a refurb, whether through Apple or someone else. After that, leave a comment below and tell us about your experience. Were you happy with your refurbished Mac? Would you recommend this route to someone else?

I currently own — and use — a refurbished Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, and iPad. So far, zero problems with the hardware! (although the iPad is only days old). Considering you can get AppleCare, it’s a helluva deal. Aside from further customisation, I don’t see why someone would go full-price.

I’m currently typing on a refurbished 13 inch MacBook Pro. Best purchase I ever made from Apple

Alexei

January 10th

Seems like a good choice BUT:
There’s parts that last years and years like cpu, ram, screen. My doubts:

– Are batteries brand new? My macbook used to last more than 5 hours. After 4 years it doesn’t go more than 3h.
– Exterior is mint?

Where can I get more information about it?

Josh Farrar

January 12th

I spoke with someone at 1-800-MY-APPLE before ordering a refurbished MacBook Air, and she told me that the refurbished models they sell have been used for no more than 14 days. She said that they are not old models which have been sent in for repair, but are new models which have been returned within Apple’s 14-day return window. My MacBook Air looked brand new, and battery life has been stellar. Saved $200.

Norris

January 10th

Bought two macbooks (white) from the refurb store; both were great while they lasted, which was about 18 months each. Each started to become less reliable then suffered major component failures. My rule – if you’re buying refurb, AppleCare is not optional.

I bought two refurbished, late-2009 MacBook Pro’s at a 15% discount from the Apple store. There is no downside. They were as good as new.

Quinton Vance

January 10th

I only buy refurbs for both Mac and PC’s. The only rule that I use is don’t buy anything that I can’t fix myself. I may not have the latest, greatest, thinnest or fastest, but I know it’s reliable and if something goes wrong, it’s only a matter of hours till it’s back up and running like new.

me

January 11th

Refurbs from Apple are very high quality. I have 2 MacBook Pros & an iPod Nano. Everything is like new except for its brown cardboard box instead of the normal full colour box. It’s especially a deal when there’s a big design change (i.e. white iMac or aluminium or inclusion of thunderbolt port). That’s when the prices for the previous version can drop significantly.

S C

January 12th

Refurbed Macs are just like new machines, imo. But keep in mind they do not want you to return them to a retail store if you change your mind.

Josh Farrar

January 12th

I just got the Mac I am typing on–a 2011 MacBook Air–earlier this week, and I feel like I got a great deal. I saved $200, and cannot tell a difference between this and new. I was told by a 1-800-MY-APPLE representative that all refurbished Macs are practically new; they were simply returned within Apple’s 14-day return policy by someone who changed their mind.

Josh Farrar

January 12th

I just got the Mac I am typing on–a 2011 MacBook Air–earlier this week, and I feel like I got a great deal. I saved $200, and cannot tell a difference between this and new. I was told by a 1-800-MY-APPLE representative that all refurbished Macs are practically new; they were simply returned within Apple’s 14-day return policy by someone who changed their mind.

Dl

January 12th

Definitely my first Imac was a refurb but my husband surprised me with the newest and best, and took my refurb for himself. LOL We were Windows users, never again, definitely fine to buy refurbs.

jaznag

January 16th

bought a 15″ macbook pro from the refurb shop – which just replaced my previous 15″ macbook pro, that I bought from the refurb shop a couple of years back. never had a problem!!

Jack

January 17th

Yes, I bought an iMac refurb from Apple in 2008. Upgraded the hard drive since then and it’s still working great. Saved a bunch of money. Do it!

Rick

January 30th

I’ve had at least 20 Macs, from the black and white all-in ones with the built in handle on top (forget the name), pizza box macs, imacs, emacs, G3s,G4s,and G5s.Never owned a new one.. Every one was used. The only ones I didn’t like were G5 Imacs. Had the hardest time keeping them up and running. I’m still on a PPC G5 desktop. Works fine for me. Looking for a intel mac but waiting for a good price on one. I’d like to try out Lion, or maybe I’ll wait to see what’s next, maybe iOS for the desktop, or OS11. Maybe the price of a used intel mac will come to my level soon, but my G5 desktop still does what I need it to do.